Yesterday I got a call from “Alex,” an agent at the New Age Literary Agency, offering me the opportunity, because I am a New York Times bestselling author, to sign my books at their booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books …and they might even consider representing me.
How exciting!
I’ve always wanted to be represented by a literary agency that charges an upfront fee & operates out of “Mail Boxes Times” in Beverly Hills. They don’t have any literary agents, but I can copy my keys, take a passport photo, or notarize my documents when I visit! They will even publish my next book for me so I won’t have to worry about selling it to a publisher. Amazing!
So I returned their call today…and recorded it (and, as it turns out, so did they!)
I am thrilled for you to at last be discovered!!! Hope it goes well. Kateri
Wow! Thanks so much for doing that and sharing. Some day when I have a book ready to publish I will know not to fall for this. It WAS a lot of fun to listen. You WERE very kind in your tone. Have fun at the festival!
That is really neat. Did a great job on the scammer
Oh my goodness, yes what a scam for sure. You should call them back & continue the conversation, but he knew he wasnt going to get you to consent. You did a great job!
Thank you for sharing & making my Monday smile!
I think his language skills alone were telling. He was hardly a critic or someone able to even judge literary worth.
Btw I finished Calico; not my cup of tea as I was surprised re the time warp BUT gotta say, it really stuck with me. Haunted me for several weeks thinking about the fore thought going into investments and family inheritance. Brilliant nevertheless! I’m back with Det. Ronin. In the middle and loving her locale; my locale. One day you’ll use Serra Retreat with Dick living doors away from me. Your fan, Cathy Fink
Sadly, these kinds of things do make money off vulnerable people. Thanks for highlighting the scam.
This was fun. Lotta scammers out there.
I’d like to hear your explanation of how Hollywood actually works.
Happy that you don’t fall for these phony offers.
Wow! I hope this video helps others from falling for these so-called too-good-to-be-true offers. I love the way you handled this call.
“what if we’re dealing with a book that has more than 400 pages?”
thank you for this, lee. i’m going to see if they’re hiring! my goodness.
The dead air at the end of the call was priceless!
I love this! Companies like this call me constantly and are clearly clueless about me or my books. Bravo for calling them on it.
What is sad is I’m a novice writer who just wrote a couple of stories and put them on Amazon. This woman called me and I admit through my trepidation I did start to believe her. The firm name came up and it looked like a legitimate website. My wife tempered my enthusiasm when the woman said my book was approved by Simon and Shuster. I had to agree with my wife, it’s not that good. It does hurt that people can stoop this low. Thank you for exposing this scam.
Hi, there Lee-
I really appreciate you taking the time to do this video. I am trying to help my wonderful 90-year-old father turn this scam down. He has four self-published books on Amazon, has dreamed of being a successful writer his entire life, and is convinced that these folks will help him produce a movie from one of his books.
I will use your video to stop him from giving his banking information today.
I’ll let you know how it goes. These scammers scam our senior citizens from their savings.
Shameful!
Brilliant! Ha ha! I received an email from them this morning and immediately knew it was a scam after they “loved” the book I have yet to publish. You handled this really well. I’ll spread the word.
Just got solicited from two people in that agency.
It’s not an agency in any way, shape or form. It’s simply a scam targeting writers. How did you respond?
I love this. Thank you!
They’ve solicited me through calls and emails. And it could be that Alex fella who tried to contact me. This video is educational and needed for all new authors.
I received an email today from someone named Dan Garcia. No mention of the name of the company. Just a phone number. He offered me the moon. I’ve been traditionally published, my books are still selling with Kensington and I rejected their last contract because of health issues with my husband. Deadlines didn’t work for me any longer. I’m now self-pubbing my new series.
I’m so glad I researched this guy! Not that I was interested. Just curious. And I found your article.
Thank you SO much for this article and your call with him. You proved what I was thinking when I read his email. Shame on them!